Open up, dispense with lockdown in name

It is reassuring, sort of, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the new rules for the fourth phase of lockdown, starting May 18, will help the economy move forward. But, pray, why have a lockdown at all? The PM also said the pandemic will be a part of our life that we need to learn to live with while using social distancing and safe practices to mitigate the risks. We reiterate the need to divide the country into just two categories: containment zones and the rest, dispensing with the demarcation of the land into red, orange and green zones.

Bar economic activity in containment zones, identified by the district administration based on high risk of infection spread and availability of a perimeter for control, permit normal economic activity outside. Dump complex rules and guidelines that only served to give the police arbitrary powers while disempowering the citizen. There are likely to be capacity constraints due to social distancing norms and rejigging of assembly lines, seating arrangements and permissible customer numbers across the board. This makes the case to unlock the economy even more compelling instead of letting things get bottled up, to enable the full flow of creativity and innovation in tackling the challenge. But everyone must diligently follow safety protocols such as maintaining physical distance from one another, frequent washing of hands, regular cleaning of common surfaces, and proper sanitisation to bring down the risk of contamination. Suggestions such as the use of ultraviolet germicidal irradiation in air-conditioning ducts and vents are worth considering in offices.

India needs to ramp up testing (and contact tracing), for which the certification of new testing kits and protocols and manufacture of qualified kits need to be scaled up.

This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Economic Times.